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Hacker duo continues cyber assault

US government and bank websites under siege

Hacker team the Deceptive Duo has left even more red faces in its wake after a continuation of its attacks on US government and banking websites.

Security site Zone-H, which appears to be in direct communication with the hackers, posted details of 16 further defacements yesterday.

Victims over the past few days include the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (Nist), Sandia National Laboratories, the US Geological Survey, the California Department of Transportation and a number of US banks.

The duo's mission statement is still the same: "To inform the world of vulnerabilities in the US cyber infrastructure", and its relentless attacks keep coming up trumps.

As proof of its exploits, the duo has been posting screenshots of the databases to which it has gained access. While these cannot be used as sole evidence of intrusion, the defacements have revealed worrying vulnerabilities in the US infrastructure.

The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command network, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the US Defense Logistics Agency, as well as Nist and Sandia, have all been revealed in the last few days as vulnerable government systems.

Earlier this week, Ruben Candelario, also known as 'skrilla', a hacker charged with breaking into the computer network at Nasa, pleaded guilty to one count of accessing a federal computer without authorisation.

He will be sentenced on 20 June and faces a potential one-year jail term and a fine of up to $100,000.